Column | More or Les: Let's get (im)personal

I know it is a lot to ask and it seems to me that being personal is not the way things are done any more. Especially when it comes to doing business. Please allow me to give some examples.

A fast food restaurant in town is getting a new building, eliminating completely an interior dining area in favor of a second drive-through lane. I recently pulled up to another restaurant and noticed all of the really good parking spaces – the ones near the door – are marked for use for those picking up “to-go” orders.

During a recent visit in St. Louis, my wife and I were the only people in the line at restaurant counter while half of a dozen people all holding red thermal bags waited off to the side like Pony Express riders, chomping at the bit to make their assigned deliveries. This peloton of drivers appeared to be a priority for the restaurant staff. And that’s the part that gets stuck in my craw.

Now, I want to be clear: I am not necessarily complaining; rather “observing” some trends is perhaps a better way of describing my perspective. It’s just that “app people” are taking precedence over actual people.

Much of this change, I imagine, is a result of the shutdowns and restrictions of the pandemic, back when we couldn’t actually be with other actual people, but the shift away from in person to impersonal has been around for a long, long time.

For years, a ringing telephone has interrupted in-person retail transactions, important discussions and family events. It is as though those people not in front of us – the ones calling us – are prioritized. Why? I’m not sure. It’s probably because the people we are with do not ring.

Phones seem to be at the center of this trend. I remember when something called “SMS” came into being. An acronym for “Short Messaging Service,” this was the beginning of text messages. I wondered why anyone would want to go to the trouble typing out a message on their telephone instead of calling someone. I still wonder this at times. We communicate through emojis, LOLs, and memes but can’t hold a decent conversation.

Then, of course, there are apps that allow us to do practically anything from the comfort of our homes (while we wait for the Pony Express to bring our food). It’s been a sort of a domino effect.

In fact, maybe they are the ones to blame. When the pizza chain started bring food to us, we started down a slippery slope. Today, even our meetings are done through screens and not in person.

Maybe it all is for the best and perhaps it all is more efficient. To me, it’s not as nice and I think we’re all missing out on making real connections and opportunities to build relationships in a growingly non-relational world.

Taking care of the people we are with – or for that matter simply being with people – would be a good thing to do. In fact, I think I’ll give it a try. As soon as somebody gets here with the food I ordered on my phone.